The IndependentThe Independent is a British online newspaper.[2] Established in 1986
as an independent national morning newspaper published in London, it
was controlled by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media from
1997 until it was sold to
Russian oligarchRussian oligarchAlexander LebedevAlexander Lebedev in
2010.[3] The last printed edition of
The IndependentThe Independent was published
Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only its digital editions.[2]
Nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet, but changed to tabloid
(compact) format in 2003.[4] Until September 2011, the paper described
itself on the banner at the top of every newspaper as "free from party
political bias, free from proprietorial influence".[5] It tends to
take a pro-market stance on economic issues.[6]
The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004
British Press Awards.
In June 2015, it had an average daily circulation of just below
58,000, 85 per cent down from its 1990 peak, while the Sunday edition
had a circulation of just over 97,000.[7][2]

History[edit]
1986 to 1990[edit]
Launched in 1986, the first issue of
The IndependentThe Independent was published on
7 October in broadsheet format.[8] It was produced by Newspaper
Publishing plc and created by Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover
and Matthew Symonds. All three partners were former journalists at The
Daily Telegraph who had left the paper towards the end of Lord
Hartwell's ownership.
Marcus Sieff was the first chairman of Newspaper
Publishing, and Whittam Smith took control of the paper.[9]
The paper was created at a time of a fundamental change in British
newspaper publishing.
Rupert MurdochRupert Murdoch was challenging long-accepted
practices of the print unions and ultimately defeated them in the
Wapping dispute. Consequently, production costs could be reduced
which, it was said at the time,[by whom?] created openings for more
competition. As a result of controversy around Murdoch's move to
Wapping, the plant was effectively having to function under siege from
sacked print workers picketing outside.
The IndependentThe Independent attracted some
of the staff from the two Murdoch broadsheets who had chosen not to
move to his company's new headquarters. Launched with the advertising
slogan "It is. Are you?", and challenging both
The GuardianThe Guardian for
centre-left readers and
The TimesThe Times as the newspaper of record, The
Independent reached a circulation of over 400,000 by 1989.
Competing in a moribund market,
The IndependentThe Independent sparked a general
freshening of newspaper design as well as, within a few years, a price
war in the market sector.[citation needed] When The Independent
launched The
Independent on Sunday in 1990, sales were less than
anticipated, partly due to the launch of the
Sunday CorrespondentSunday Correspondent four
months prior, although this direct rival closed at the end of November
1990. Some aspects of production merged with the main paper, although
the Sunday paper retained a largely distinct editorial staff.
Since 1990[edit]
In the 1990s,
The IndependentThe Independent was faced with price cutting by the
Murdoch titles, and started an advertising campaign accusing The Times
and
The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph of reflecting the views of their proprietors,
Rupert MurdochRupert Murdoch and Conrad Black. It featured spoofs of the other
papers' mastheads with the words 'The Rupert Murdoch' or 'The Conrad
Black', with 'The Independent' below the main title.
Newspaper Publishing had financial problems. A number of other media
companies were interested in the paper. Tony O'Reilly's media group
and Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) had bought a stake of about a third
each by mid-1994. In March 1995, Newspaper Publishing was restructured
with a rights issue, splitting the shareholding into O'Reilly's
Independent News & Media (43%), MGN (43%), and Prisa (publisher of
El País) (12%).[10]
In April 1996, there was another refinancing, and in March 1998,
O'Reilly bought the other 54%[clarification needed] of the company for
£30 million, and assumed the company's debt. Brendan Hopkins
headed Independent News,
Andrew MarrAndrew Marr was appointed editor of The
Independent, and
Rosie BoycottRosie Boycott became editor of
The IndependentThe Independent on
Sunday. Marr introduced a dramatic if short-lived redesign which won
critical favour but was a commercial failure, partly as a result of a
limited promotional budget. Marr admitted his changes had been a
mistake in his book, My Trade.[11]
Boycott left in April 1998 to join the Daily Express, and Marr left in
May 1998, later becoming the BBC's political editor.
Simon Kelner was
appointed as the editor. By this time the circulation had fallen below
200,000. Independent News spent heavily to increase circulation, and
the paper went through several redesigns. While circulation increased,
it did not approach the level which had been achieved in 1989, or
restore profitability. Job cuts and financial controls reduced the
morale of journalists and the quality of the product. Ivan Fallon, on
the board since 1995 and formerly a key figure at The Sunday Times,
replaced Hopkins as head of Independent News & Media in July 2002.
By mid-2004, the newspaper was losing £5 million per year. A
gradual improvement meant that by 2006, circulation was at a nine-year
high.[12]
In November 2008, following further staff cuts, production was moved
to Northcliffe House, in Kensington High Street, the headquarters of
Associated Newspapers.[13] The two newspaper groups' editorial,
management and commercial operations remained separate, but they
shared services including security, information technology,
switchboard and payroll.[citation needed]
On 25 March 2010, Independent News & Media sold the newspaper to
Russian oligarchRussian oligarchAlexander LebedevAlexander Lebedev for a nominal £1 fee and £9.25m
over the next 10 months, choosing this option over closing The
Independent and
The IndependentThe Independent on Sunday, which would have cost £28m
and £40m respectively, due to long-term contracts.[3][14] In 2009,
Lebedev had bought a controlling stake in the
LondonLondon Evening Standard.
Two weeks later, editor
Roger Alton resigned.[15]
In July 2011, The Independent's columnist
Johann HariJohann Hari was stripped of
the
Orwell Prize he had won in 2008 after claims, which Hari later
admitted to,[16] of plagiarism and inaccuracy.[17] In January 2012,
Chris Blackhurst, editor of The Independent, told the Leveson inquiry
that the scandal had "severely damaged" the newspaper's reputation. He
nevertheless told the inquiry that Hari would return as a columnist in
"four to five weeks".[18] Hari later announced that he would not
return to The Independent.[19] Jonathan Foreman contrasted The
Independent's reaction to the scandal unfavourably with the reaction
of American newspapers to similar incidents such as the Jayson Blair
case, which led to resignations of editors, "deep soul-searching", and
"new standards of exactitude being imposed".[20] The historian Guy
Walters suggested that Hari's fabrications had been an open secret
amongst the newspaper's staff and that their internal inquiry was a
"facesaving exercise".[21]
Content[edit]
Format and design[edit]
The IndependentThe Independent began publishing as a broadsheet, in a series of
celebrated designs. The final version was designed by Carroll, Dempsey
and Thirkell following a commission by
Nicholas Garland who, along
with Alexander Chancellor, was unhappy with designs produced by
Raymond Hawkey and Michael McGuiness – on seeing the proposed
designs, Chancellor had said "I thought we were joining a serious
paper". The first edition was designed and implemented by Michael
Crozier, who was Executive Editor, Design and Picture, from pre-launch
in 1986 to 1994.[citation needed]
From September 2003, the paper was produced in both broadsheet and
tabloid-sized versions, with the same content in each. The tabloid
edition was termed "compact" to distance itself from the more
sensationalist reporting style usually associated with "tabloid"
newspapers in the UK.[22] After launching in the
LondonLondon area and then
in North West England,[23] the smaller format appeared gradually
throughout the UK. Soon afterwards, Rupert Murdoch's Times followed
suit, introducing its own tabloid-sized version.[24] Prior to these
changes,
The IndependentThe Independent had a daily circulation of around 217,500,
the lowest of any major national British daily, a figure that climbed
by 15% as of March 2004 (to 250,000). Throughout much of 2006,
circulation stagnated at a quarter of a million. On 14 May 2004, The
Independent produced its last weekday broadsheet, having stopped
producing a Saturday broadsheet edition in January.
The IndependentThe Independent on
Sunday published its last simultaneous broadsheet on 9 October 2005,
and has since followed a compact design.
On 12 April 2005,
The IndependentThe Independent redesigned its layout to a more
European feel, similar to France's Libération. The redesign was
carried out by a Barcelona-based design studio. The weekday second
section was subsumed within the main paper, double-page feature
articles became common in the main news sections, and there were
revisions to the front and back covers.[25] A new second section,
"Extra", was introduced on 25 April 2006. It is similar to The
Guardian's "G2" and The Times's "Times2", containing features,
reportage and games, including sudoku. In June 2007, The Independent
on Sunday consolidated its content into a news section which included
sports and business, and a magazine focusing on life and culture.[26]
On 23 September 2008, the main newspaper became full-colour, and
"Extra" was replaced by an "Independent Life Supplement" focusing on
different themes each day.[27]
Three weeks after the acquisition of the paper by Alexander Lebedev
and
Evgeny LebedevEvgeny Lebedev in 2010, the paper was relaunched with another
redesign on 20 April. The new format featured smaller headlines and a
new pullout "Viewspaper" section, which contained the paper's comment
and feature articles.[28] From 26 October 2010, the same day as its
sister paper, i, was launched,
The IndependentThe Independent was printed on slightly
thicker paper than before and ceased to be full-colour throughout,
with many photographs and pictures (though none of those used in
adverts) being printed in black and white only. On 11 October 2011,
The IndependentThe Independent unveiled yet another new look, featuring a red,
sans-serif masthead. In November 2013, the whole newspaper was
overhauled again, including new custom fonts and a vertical masthead
in black.[citation needed]
Front pages[edit]
Following the 2003 switch in format,
The IndependentThe Independent became known for
its unorthodox and campaigning front pages, which frequently relied on
images, graphics or lists rather than traditional headlines and
written news content. For example, following the Kashmir earthquake in
2005, it used its front page to urge its readers to donate to its
appeal fund, and following the publication of the Hutton Report into
the death of British government scientist David Kelly, its front page
simply carried the word "Whitewash?".[29] In 2003, the paper's editor,
Simon Kelner, was named "Editor of the Year" at the What the Papers
Say awards, partly in recognition of, according to the judges, his
"often arresting and imaginative front-page designs".[30] In 2008,
however, as he was stepping down as editor, he stated that it was
possible to "overdo the formula" and that the style of the paper's
front pages perhaps needed "reinvention".[31]
Under the subsequent editorship of Chris Blackhurst, the campaigning,
poster-style front pages were scaled back in favour of more
conventional news stories.[32]
Sections[edit]
The weekday, Saturday and Sunday editions of
The IndependentThe Independent all
included supplements and pull-out subsections:

"Saturday Sport": A weekly pull-out containing reports looking ahead
to the weekend's sporting events.
"Radar": A compact, primarily listings magazine, including television
schedules, film and DVD reviews and events listings for the coming
week. It also includes a round-up of the "50 best" items in a
particular category. For example, over the Christmas period there are
weekly supplements of "Gifts for him" and "Gifts for her".
"Traveller": Contains travel articles and advertisements.
"
The IndependentThe Independent Magazine": A features magazine including sections on
food, interiors and fashion.

"Sport": A weekly pull-out containing reports of Saturday's sporting
events.
"The New Review": A features magazine.
"Arts & Books": A culture supplement.
"Rainbow List" An annually-updated list, first published in 2000, then
as the "Pink List", of the most famous and influential people who have
declared themselves lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.[33][34]

Online presence[edit]
On 23 January 2008,
The IndependentThe Independent relaunched its online edition,
www.independent.co.uk.[35][36] The relaunched site introduced a new
look, better access to the blog service, priority on image and video
content, and additional areas of the site including art, architecture,
fashion, gadgets and health. The paper launched podcast programmes
such as "
The IndependentThe Independent Music Radio Show", "
The IndependentThe Independent Travel
Guides", "
The IndependentThe Independent Sailing Podcasts", and "The Independent
Video Travel Guides". Since 2009, the website has carried short video
news bulletins provided by the
Al Jazeera EnglishAl Jazeera English news channel.[37]
In 2014,
The IndependentThe Independent launched a sister website, i100, a
"shareable" journalism site with similarities to
RedditReddit and
Upworthy.[38]
Political views[edit]
When the paper was established in 1986, the founders intended its
political stance to reflect the centre of the British political
spectrum and thought that it would attract readers primarily from The
Times and The Daily Telegraph. It has been seen as leaning to the
left, making it more a competitor to The Guardian, although both also
feature conservative columnists.
The IndependentThe Independent tends to take a
classical liberal, pro-market stance on economic issues.[6] In an
editorial on 27 January 2013, the
Independent on Sunday referred to
itself as a "proudly liberal newspaper".[39]
The paper took a strong editorial position against the 2003 Invasion
of Iraq, the Iraq War, and aspects of US and UK foreign policy related
to the
War on TerrorismWar on Terrorism following the 11 September attacks. It has
been a strong supporter of electoral reform.[40] The paper has also
taken strong positions on environmental issues, campaigned against the
introduction of ID cards, and campaigned against the restriction of
mass immigration to the UK. In 1997,
The IndependentThe Independent on Sunday
launched a campaign for the decriminalisation of cannabis. Ten years
later, it reversed itself, claiming that the cannabis strain "skunk"
"smoked by the majority of young Britons" in 2007 had become "25 times
stronger than resin sold a decade ago".[41] In addition, The
Independent has highlighted what it refers to as "war crimes" being
committed by pro-government forces in the Darfur region of Sudan.[42]
Originally, it avoided royal stories, Whittam Smith later saying he
thought the British press was "unduly besotted" with the Royal Family
and that a newspaper could "manage without" stories about the
monarchy.[43]
In 2007, Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, said of The
Independent: "The emphasis on views, not news, means that the
reporting is rather thin, and it loses impact on the front page the
more you do that".[44] In a 12 June 2007 speech, British Prime
Minister
Tony BlairTony Blair called
The IndependentThe Independent a "viewspaper", saying it
"was started as an antidote to the idea of journalism as views not
news. That was why it was called the Independent. Today it is avowedly
a viewspaper not merely a newspaper".[45]
The IndependentThe Independent criticised
Blair's comments the following day[46][47] but later changed format to
include a "Viewspaper" insert in the centre of the regular newspaper,
designed to feature most of the opinion columns and arts reviews.
A leader published on the day of the 2008
LondonLondon Mayoral election
compared the candidates and said that, if the newspaper had a vote, it
would vote first for the Green Party candidate, Sian Berry, noting the
similarity between her priorities and those of The Independent, and
secondly, with "rather heavy heart", for the incumbent, Ken
Livingstone.[48]
An
Ipsos MORI poll estimated that in the 2010 general election, 44% of
regular readers voted Liberal Democrat, 32% voted Labour,[49] and 14%
voted Conservative, compared to 23%, 29%, and 36%, respectively, of
the overall electorate.[50] On the eve of the 2010 general election,
The IndependentThe Independent supported the Liberal Democrats, arguing that "they
are longstanding and convincing champions of civil liberties, sound
economics, international co-operation on the great global challenges
and, of course, fundamental electoral reform. These are all principles
that this newspaper has long held dear. That is why we argue that
there is a strong case for progressively minded voters to lend their
support to the Liberal Democrats wherever there is a clear opportunity
for that party to win".[40] However, the weekend before the 2015
general election saw The
Independent on Sunday claim it would not be
advising its readers how to vote in 2015. The editorial piece claimed
that "this does not mean that we are a bloodless, value-free
news-sheet. We have always been committed to social justice", but the
paper recognised that it was up the readers to "make up your own mind
about whether you agree with us or not". Rather than support a
particular party, the paper urged all its reader to vote as "a
responsibility of common citizenship".[51] On 4 May 2015, the weekday
version of
The IndependentThe Independent said that a continuation of the
Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition after the general election
would be a positive outcome.[52]
Personnel[edit]
Editors[edit]

There have also been various guest editors over the years, such as
Elton JohnElton John on 1 December 2010, the Body Shop's
Anita RoddickAnita Roddick on 19
June 2003 and U2's
BonoBono in 2006.
Writers and columnists[edit]
Predominantly in The Independent:
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular
standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably
sourced entries.

Predominantly
The IndependentThe Independent on Sunday:
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular
standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably
sourced entries.

Independent on Sunday[edit]
The
Independent on Sunday was the Sunday sister newspaper of The
Independent. It ceased to exist in 2016, the last edition being
published on 20 March; the daily paper ceasing print publication six
days later.
The i[edit]
Main article: i (newspaper)
In October 2010, the i, a compact sister newspaper, was launched. The
i is a separate newspaper but uses some of the same material. It was
later sold to regional newspaper company Johnston Press, becoming that
publisher's flagship national newspaper. The i's online presence,
i100, was restyled as indy100 and retained by Independent News &
Media.
The (RED) Independent[edit]
The IndependentThe Independent supported U2 lead singer Bono's
Product REDProduct RED brand by
creating The (RED) Independent, an occasional edition that gave half
the day's proceeds to the charity.[60] The first edition was in May
2006. Edited by Bono, it drew high sales.[61]
A September 2006 edition of The (RED) Independent, designed by fashion
designer Giorgio Armani, drew controversy due to its cover shot,
showing model
Kate MossKate Moss in blackface for an article about AIDS in
Africa.[62]
Awards and nominations[edit]
The IndependentThe Independent was awarded "National Newspaper of the Year" for
2003[63][64] and the
Independent on Sunday was awarded "Front Page of
the Year" for 2014's "Here is the news, not the propaganda", printed
on 5 October 2014.[63]
Independent journalists have won a range of British Press Awards,
including:[63]